Ghastly Classifications.

There is no real ongoing series for accounts of ghosts, hauntings, phantasms, and spectres in all their many forms. Ghosts run the gamut of simple apparitions to full-bodied phantasms, to poltergeists, to the unseen haunting.

Many ghastly manifestations seem centered around a specific structure, room, area, person(s), or time of day. There are two major divisions of spiritual manifestations: those that are attached to a specific place or area and those that are connected with an individual or collective, such as a family. Amongst these, there are generally three types of phantasms:

1. The unseen spirit who makes its presence known by manipulating real, corporeal objects. These are often called "spirits" or "ghosts," and they are usually innocuous. They often appear in one form or another, sometimes as solid beings and sometimes as phantasmal, transparent visions. Rarely, they interact with viewers, typically children. They often show up on film and cause little or no harm. They may, but rarely, speak in voices.
   
2. The second type is the Poltergeist, based on the Germanic word, noisy ghost, which frequently moves items around - often violently - slams doors, and even physically touch and sometimes attack people. They may speak in voices, whispers, or even yells or screams. Sometimes, they have been known to hurl items, break them, or worse. In extreme cases, they rearrange entire rooms, stacking furniture and other items in impossible and bizarre formations.
   
3. The third most common type (thankfully very rare) is the Daemonic entity. Daemonic entities are by far the most dangerous and have been known to appear in full-form that is sometimes impossible to differentiate between the solid and phantasmagoric. They are infamous for truly terrible activities, such as nightly shrieks, violent attacks on living beings - such as slaps, punches, scratches, even producing solid materials from absolutely nowhere. Daemonic entities are also said to be able to possess living human beings and grant them inhuman strength, change their personal facial features, possession, grant them precognition and prescience, as well as an uncanny knowledge of others' secrets and past events, produce materialistic items from thin air. Daemonic forces can affect anyone of any age and sometimes plague entire families. They are one of the few spirits known to follow families once they move. Daemonic forces also relish in showing off their abilities and partaking in particularly horrific, disgusting, and dangerous "pranks."

The type of spiritual phenomena we are focusing on now is of the first category. Ghosts always have a visual aspect, whether they seem solid or transparent, they come in two basic forms: the veridical apparition and the cognizant one. The former are often tied to a specific place or location, time, and event, and almost always follow a similar pattern, as though it is simply replaying an event(s) it has experienced before - like a replay of a recorded event. They almost never interact directly with the living.

For example, a ghost clad in Periodic clothing that appears about the same time every year is a Veridical Imagery; it may seem to be aware of you, but it does not speak and often seems to be frightened and compelled to continue some situation which rarely makes sense to onlookers. A phantasm dressed in Periodic costume who may or may not take on an air of "floating" may look at/through you, but will continue on its predestined trail, undeterred by your presence. They usually dissipate or dematerialize right through walls and/or other solid impedances unopposed. In other cases, many phantasms might appear in the midst of some sort of activity, such as a party, battle, horseride, or even train ride, only to dissipate or disappear entirely.

Veridical Imagery refers to phantasmagorical "replays" of events which supposedly cannot be changed and must be revisited and replayed by the damned souls trapped in reliving their deaths, tragic failures, or whatever, for time Immemorial. Other veridical imageries consist only of phantasmal noises, music and/or voices with no discernible source. Sometimes, this theory is advanced as a Veridical Afterimage, which assumes that some form of energy - as yet unknown - remains after death and is sometimes visible to, and/or interacts with, the living.

Many phantasmagorical images which do not appear to the naked eye show up later on film. Likewise, EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) are almost never heard while being recorded and can only be catalogued by replaying the tapes and attempting to decipher the communications.

None of these phenomena can currently be explained by modern accepted Science and are thus quickly dismissed, along with serious researchers, cataloguers, and hunters like ourselves.

In further entries, we'll turn our attentions to some very interesting and "classic" cases of these things and attempt to catalogue them according these criteria.